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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Do you recall our effort last year to bring the unconference to the unemployed and underemployed? We ended up canceling the LaidOffCamp due to insufficient registrations. We have learned from that experience and are giving it a second try.

We have a good location:
The St John Evangelist Parish Center in Hopkinton, MA. It is great space for up to 200 and best of all, free for us to use. As we are a non-profit and all volunteer group, any proceeds from the event will be donated to the Church.

We have a date!
Friday, May 14th from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM

We have a new event name:
Job Search Jam Sessions

The name says we are all about the "job search". We are looking for collaboration, learning and sharing from each other on this road to the next stop in our career. You have some tips and tricks from your experience. I do. Bob does. Marilyn does. Everyone does. Let's come together in an open space facilitated set of sessions.

Monday, March 29, 2010

What should you expect when participating in the Job Search Jam Sessions? Here are a few tips:

Preparation for the event

• Pre-register for the event to give the coordinators a good idea as to how many people are coming.

• Come early, but not too early - Showing up at the announced starting time will be fine. Show up earlier, and you'll get drafted for setup work (much appreciated!). Show up later, and you'll miss some social activity and the session scheduling.

• Be ready to participate - come with an idea for a session you can lead. You don't have to be an expert at your topic; as long as it's not too specific, there'll probably be someone else present who can help you out. You can also contribute to the conversation during a session. This is a great way to participate, since it spreads knowledge from everyone, instead of just the leader.

The day of the event

• When you arrive, go to the pre-registration table, where you can claim/make your nametag. Make your way into the gathering place, where you should find lots of people to network with.

• We plan to start by gathering together in the main hall. We'll review the schedule for the afternoon. If you see that a session you're interested in is not being offered, check with some neighbors to see if they would be interested, and then approach organizers. We will have some open slots for ad-hoc sessions to be scheduled the day of the Job Search Jam Sessions.

• We plan on having time slots of 45 minutes for sessions. This should allow for a brief presentation and plenty of Q&A. We will allow for 15 minutes between session for follow up and additional networking. We are planning for refreshments to be available.

• As you finish the last session, please look around the room and pick up any trash. We want to leave the facility in as good and clean a condition as when we walked in. Every little bit you can do will help the overall event.